I think we need a discussion thread for the californian drought going on. I would like to compile information in the main post and would like help compiling it. If we really are proud to be effective altruists then this is an area we should really figure out.
- http://ca.gov/drought/
- http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
- http://www.californiadrought.org/
- http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf
- http://www.californiadrought.org/the-state-of-the-california-drought-still-very-bad/
- Read this: http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2013/02/ca_drought_impacts_full_report3.pdf
Any one have any good ideas on how we can help?
The easy economic (although not political) solution is to raise the price of water. Long-term, the way we can help is by causing more people to understand very basic microeconomics.
Sociologically, it would be nice if this destroyed the norm that good home owners maintain grass lawns.
People like lawns, and there is research that shows plentiful greenery increases a sense of well-being. It is just absurd to force this kind of pointless water austerity on people while enabling massive scale waste elsewhere.